WP: After 30 Years, Draft Fears Rise

[DeepModem Mom]

After 30 Years, Draft Fears Rise
Some Youths and Parents Worry Despite Government's Assurances

By Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 2, 2005; Page B01


In their Ellicott City kitchen, Jeff Amoros's parents handed their son the Selective Service registration form that arrived shortly after his 18th birthday. For them, it evoked dark memories of the Vietnam era. For Amoros, it meant: "I'm old enough to die for my country now."

At a Montgomery County Friends meeting house, peace activist J.E. McNeil explained to an audience how to convince draft boards that they are conscientious objectors. "Let me tell you why I think there's going to be a draft," she said.

Rarely in the more than 30 years since the draft was abolished has the Selective Service triggered such angst. Two years into the Iraq war, concern that the draft will be reinstated to supplement an overextended military persists -- no matter how often, or emphatically, President Bush and members of Congress say it won't.

In this atmosphere of suspicion, the Selective Service System, the Rosslyn-based agency that conscripted 1.8 million Americans during the Vietnam War and 10 million in World War II, quietly pursues its delicate dual mission: keeping the draft machinery ready, without sparking fear that it is coming back.

"We're told not to do a particular thing but to be prepared to do it," said Dan Amon, a spokesman for the Selective Service, which last year registered about 15.6 million young men between the draft-eligible ages of 18 and 25. "We just continue to carry out our mission as mandated by Congress."...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060101654.html

[berni_mccoy]

1. This is the real reason why the Pentagon

is delaying the release of recruiting numbers. The numbers will be irrelevant once the announcement that a draft is being issued to support the war on Terror. I can't wait to read the Freepers responses when this happens (at least there will be upwards of 53 million American ready to volunteer right?)

[bluestateguy]

2. The Penatgon passed the data along to the book cookers

The data is being cooked in the oven as we speak.

[Erika]

4. I just know the Bush Twins & young republicans

will be storming the front of the recruiting lines. Right?

[saigon68]

13. Those COWARDS will be hiding under MOMMY'S skirts

Just like the BIG CHIMPANZEE did when they came looking for his stinking hide during the real VIET-NAM.

What a disgusting Sniveling Coward, Wimp and Draft Dodger.

[megatherium]

18. You know the line: The difference between Iraq and Vietnam is that Bush

had a plan for getting out of Vietnam.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

24. His daddy had the plan.

[Skwmom]

14. I think the sons and daughters of the senators that gave

Bush a blank check to go to war (along with the Bush twins) should be the first ones drafted.

[renaissanceguy]

20. Reminds me of F911

when the Senators who voted for the war ran away from Michael Moore when he asked them to enlist their children. Fucking chickenhawks.


http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/472476

[0007]

26. I'll second that motion!

[Zerex71]

38. I have an idea.

You know what you do? Anytime you seem some smug, arrogant, snotnosed little Repuke pumping his fist about Bu$h, the war, etc. get their contact info and pass it along to a military recruiter. Do it. Make the recruiter call and tell the kid he heard he really wanted to enlist. Then see how the kid sh*ts his little drawers.

[cyberpj]

60. Yep - and I'm promoting just that -

[babylonsister]

3. Wow...

:wow: I think this could be a powder keg waiting to explode, and as a woman of reason, I hope people see the light.

[Tux]

5. They will

Dobson, Falwell, and Robertson will call on the godless to fight for the morally correct, never done anything wrong in history Christians.

[LynnTheDem]

6. WHY do rightwingnuts HATE BUSH?

WHY are rightwingnuts making bush look bad??? WHY aren't rightwingnuts joining up in droves to help their bush-god???

[Erika]

7. I Just Know the GOP Christian Faithful will rush to enlist

It will come at any second now. Bush's daughters will lead them.

[LynnTheDem]

8. I 'll send weekly care packages of falafals to him if O'Really ups.

WALK YOUR TALK, rightwingnuts! Sign up and DIE for your bush-god! Or admit you're snivelling COWARDS who only support wars when YOU are home, safe in your mommy's arms.

[Gemini Cat]

10. They'd like to! They really would!!

The problem is they can't because they have other priorities. Plus even if they didn't have these other priorities, there are minorities using the military for some sort of opportunity so there's really no room for the youthful republicans. Shame actually, but those tricky minorities and working class youths who allowed their jobs to be outsourced, can get a job in the military and take the rotting Halliburton food out of the mouths of the hapless republicans.

Young republicans are all very willing to join and I don't want you to think they aren't!!! However, sometimes a damned boil will erupt on their ass at the most inconvenient time. (Especially near a recruitment centre.) You can't show your love for your country and fight terrorists with a boil on your ass. Besides, with all the minorities and working class youths out there, our young republicans can stay behind to tend to their boils, their frat parties, their cheer leading and possibility of running for office sometime in the future.


I hate these people. :mad:


edit I can't spell.

[LynnTheDem]

16. SIGN UP or SHUT UP, rightwingnuts. Stop HIDING behind your momma

and your ass-boils you stinking COWARDS.

I despise rightwingnuts. I despise deeply stupid people who are determined to remain deeply stupid against all odds. In short, I despise rightwingnuts.

The only good thing about rightwingnuts is they're a very tiny little fringe minority on this planet.

You & me both, Confound. :mad:

[Megahurtz]

45. Lol!

Love the rant!!!:)
:rant:

[LynnTheDem]

48. Oh that's not a rant...my rants look more like...

GOD DAMN you rightwingnuts are THE STUPIDEST motherfuckers on this entire bloody PLANET you SICK mother-fucking MORANS you can't spell, you can barely chant the few phrases you've memorized from your talking head asshole pundits, and you don't even have a FUCKING CLUE what the fuck your chants even mean, which is ok actually because they are in fact MEANINGLESS you INCREDIBLY IGNORANT pissant bastards. HELLO fucktards; "we're fighting them THERE so they can't fight us here"??? Do you REALLY think everyone else in the world, "evil-doers" included, are as STUPID AS YOU bunch??? Do ya REALLY think us being quagmired in a nation that hadn't been doing one damn thing to anyone means people can't still COME HERE??? HELLO IDIOTS! Schoolchildren can understand that and YOU morans CAN'T??? You're STUPID and every time you open your fucking little mouths to spout your foolish crap you're proved WRONG WRONG and WRONG. Yet you just carry on, making total FOOLS of yourselves in front of the entire world. How many times do you allow the same bunch of lying assholes DUPE and CON you, ya stupid RUBES? Any limit to the number of times? No I didn't think so. SCHOOLCHILDREN in INDIA skip rope to songs about the STUPID AMERICANS who thought Iraq did 911; you rightwingnuts are SO STUPID, most of you STILL think Iraq did 911. You're a total EMBARRASSMENT to this entire nation and you worship an idiot that is stupid beyond fucking belief, an insider-trading criminal,a war criminal, a 2-time arrested drunk, who can't even speak English! He's one of the few people on the planet DUMBER than you lot. Damn all rightwingnut mother-fucking bastards...

That's what my rants look like. :)

[Megahurtz]

52. HA!

Cool!!!:applause::bounce::woohoo:

[Bhaisahab]

56. brilliant, as always

i love this line:
"SCHOOLCHILDREN in INDIA skip rope to songs about the STUPID AMERICANS who thought Iraq did 911"

you're the best offensive (pun unintended) the democrats can launch at the despicable right. drag them through the mud!

[arachide]

50. actually, they're further out of touch than you can imagine

If you check other, more (shall we say) Conservative websites, they completely deny that there is any shortage of volunteers. With God as my witness, I read that last week on Free Republic. Reality is only what you believe; there is no objective truth anymore.

[amandabeech]

54. I've seen that, too. I also saw other Freepers ( or were they DU'ers)

ask for the URL for the statistics. Of course, none was forthcoming.

[ninkasi]

35. So do I

If all the rightwing nut jobs out there really believed in the nonsense they blabber about, the enlistment numbers wouldn't be so dismal. If they really supported the troops, they would either by trying to put an end to this illegal invasion, and get our troops home, or they would join up and help them fight.

They are, though, like the coward of a president we are inflicted with, useless, sniveling, pieces of shit who won't fight themselves, but have no qualms about sending others to die.I have an 18 year old grandson who just graduated from high school; no way will our family let him go fight in a war we all oppose.

[DesEtoiles]

9. If pharmacists are allowed to make conscientious objections, then why

not soldiers?

[leftchick]

11. Good God! Did you read the end about the "Special Skills" Draft?

~snip~


There's not going to be a draft. Political leaders can't seem to say that enough. But if there were to be one, it could be of specific skilled professionals rather than general conscription, Flahavan said. That could mean women would be included -- and the cutoff age could be extended past 25 years.

Since 1987, at Congress's request, the Selective Service has had a plan to register male and female health care workers ages 20 to 45 in more than 60 medical specialties in case the country suddenly needed more doctors or nurses. The proposal would require the authorization of Congress and the president.

More recently, the agency has talked about reinventing itself by registering all sorts of professionals whose expertise could be helpful in an emergency. That way, the Selective Service could become a national "repository or inventory of special skills," according to the agency's annual report.

The "special skills" draft could give the government the option of calling up people in a variety of specialties, such as linguists, computer experts, police officers or firefighters, Flahavan said.

~snip~

The agency knows what angst such a program could cause, and Flahavan repeatedly stresses that it is "just a concept" that would require authorization from Congress.


So in other words. "Don't worry , it has to pass congress and the pres.** before that will ever happen"!!!!!!

Like that wouldn't happen in a NY minute!!!!

:banghead:

[ebayfool]

12. Yup, & 'special skills' in their world can be construed as being anyone

w/2 legs (or less, they have amputees in Iraq right now). Special skills as in : drivers, secretaries, housekeeping (someone has to clean the officers' quarters), carpenters, oilfield workers (as I pointed out to my repub son-in-law - Halliburton needs his butt!), hell - even waitress' would be useful as food servers to troops. Just about ANY BODY they want to call up could be designated as 'special skill'!

I really don't think this would be limited to just a few professional specialties. They need warm bodies as fodder, don't have to have a specialty - just able to hold a gun. That's their special skills!

[amber dog democrat]

17. They contacted a terminally ill, 80 year old doctor

and asked him to consider enlisting to volunteer his services. My friend said her father was not interested. I don't think the Navy is going to want me back even if I AM in my early fifties, but if I possessed critical skills I don't doubt I might be asked.

I think a draft is enevitiable. people are getting scared away from the All Volunteer Army if it can't honor its agreement to terms of voluntary enlistment. I wonder if the stop loss policies were in the fine print of the contracts people signed.

[CRK7376]

19. Stop Loss is not

spelled out as Stop Loss in the fine print, but the fine print clearly states that you are signing up for 2-4 years active service and and the same number in the Reserve/National Guard/IRR etc...Those who enlist know they may be called back to duty after leaving Active Duty, but seldom think that will happen...all that has changed since 911. Read the fine print potential recruits!

[dchill]

36. I would say...

that to a Republican chickenhawk, the courage to face an armed enemy who wants to kill you would be a "special skill." Very few of them seem to have it.

[MisterP]

63. "bombing cities will now be a 'special service'"

(Catch-22)

[HockeyMom]

21. 68 year old retired doctor

Did you read about him? He had some time left from 20 years ago and they tried to call him back up. The man had retired from his private practice almost 10 years ago and the Army wanted to recall him. He thought it was a joke. Apparently, not. I never heard anything more about it. I wonder if he is now in Iraq. ROFL They MUST be desperate.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

22. Two doctors were recently asked to come back into the military....

...as part of what can only be seen as a Special Skills draft.

Both were retired from the service, and both live in northern Alabama...one in Decatur and one in Huntsville. One is 70 years old and the other is 65.

Both were told that if they came back in to the service they would be assigned to medical units in Germany which would free up a couple of younger doctors to be sent into Iraq.

Can you guess what happened? Yep, that's correct. Both are now stationed inside Iraq.

The wife of the doctor in Huntsville was all excited because she knew her husband was looking forward to working for the military again. To show you how delusional this lady really is, she was quoted in the local paper as saying that she knew her husband would be safe working "behind the lines" in Iraq, unlike his experience in Vietnam. Sad.

[leftchick]

29. extremely sad...

How anyone could believe ANYTHING said on behalf of the US government today is truly bizarre.

[MadisonProgressive]

32. behind WHAT lines?

[Supersedeas]

41. so, when will Flahavan become a household name--being the front man

so * can sit back and enjoy the corporate cheers.

[teryang]

15. Special skills would heavily involve medical professionals

...of all types.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. Also, those involved in computers and communications.

[reprobate]

25. Also, those with skilled trigger fingers.

[rocktivity]

53. Watch how quickly breathing unassisted becomes a special skill.

The "special skills" draft could give the government the option of calling up people in a variety of specialties, such as linguists, computer experts, police officers or firefighters, Flahavan said.

Just like they did with outsourcing torture, they'll simply call it something else--"renditioning", "stress positions", "environmental manipulation"--and claim that they kept their promise because they aren't doing exactly what had been done in the past.

So don't let the use of the word "special" make you think you're off the hook. If you can connect a computer, make entries on a blog, or just bookmark a web page, you're a computer expert. If you got the highest mark in your class on your Spanish finals, you're a linguist. You became the fast-food worker entrusted to lock up at night? Military police training for you. You can change the oil in your own car? To the motor pool with you. And if you were in charge of distributing ice packs to the football team or passed the CPR course your office offered, you're a medical specialist--no degree needed!

Of course, everyone's first stop will be the infantry...

:scared:
rocknation

[meganmonkey]

27. All those 'support the troops' ribbon people should get their sorry asses

down to the recruiters.

There is no excuse.

These people don't know what real patriotism is.

The only good thing about a draft is that it will strengthen the anti-war movement. Of course, bushco would have to be willing to listen to the will of the people for that to change anything and that's unlikely :(

[cyberpj]

61. Here's mine ---

[HughBeaumont]

65. Mine too -

[ckramer]

28. War = Government job

Just in case the employment rates are low...hehe


America under boosh = bully, a democracy bully. It will kill you to get you democracy.

Forced-feed-democracy.

By George, Americans' good name is permanently damaged.

[Supersedeas]

49. Democracy at Gunpoint is Fascism by any other name

[Javaman]

30. The draft isn't going to be reinstated until after the midterms...

mark my words.

Only a revolution can remove them from office then. They institute the draft now, not a single repuke will be elected.

[Ernesto]

31. Makes sense to me....... n-t

[Daphne08]

34. I told my husband the same thing.

:scared: I'm so afraid for my sons. :cry:

[Javaman]

55. Here's a word of advice, regarding your sons and the draft...

I wish I could find the article but basically, if you want your sons out of the Army, if they get drafted, it's fairly simple.
If they are drafted, heaven forbid, have them go AWOL as soon as possible. However, not longer than 30 days. After 30 days, any military Branch can bring criminal charges. Have them return (beofre the 30 days are up) and tell them it they don't want to be there and that they will continue to resist, 9 times out of ten the military cuts them loose.
Here's why:
It's much easier as a new recruit to get out as opposed to a soldier that has been in for a couple for years. They have financially invested interest into the soldier that's been in for a while. If you have noticed, many lifers suddenly want out, because of this war, but they are brought up on charges. Pilots, officers, long time enlisted, etc, are huge investments for the military, a new recruit that's less then an hour in, costs them nothing. Like big company, the military is run like a business, the care about the bottom line. So if some kids doesn't want in, they will cut them loose with a dishonorable or less then honorable discharge. The discharge of a newbie is a lot cheaper than loosing a pilot.
I have already instructed my girlfriends son in what to do. :)

[genieroze]

42. Well * told congresspeople not to worry about what their constituents

say about SS. It tells me the next election is in the Diebold bag and these psychos can do whatever they please.

[Barkley]

33. If I were 18 yrs old today, I'd be looking attending college in Canada

I know that the coming draft does not exempt college status people but I'd at least have a jump on everyone else in getting out of the country.

[Straight Shooter]

37. Whenever I see any boy over 12 now, I "see" him in combat gear.

It's freaky. Especially with boys 17 and over, I picture them in my mind with fatigues on, helmets, rifle in hand.

Yesterday I was out of town and happened to park near a recruiting office. It had just closed, and a young man in fatigues walked out to his car. He looked so young. I don't know if he likes his job or not, but I almost cried to see him in uniform. It felt like I was looking at a ghost.

[jokerman93]

39. I doubt the "draft" will be instituted

That would be far too straight forward and obvious. IMHO whatever program will replace the old style conscription has probably already been launched in some preliminary form under the radar.

I may be wrong of course, but it seems to me the Bush propaganda machine will so thoroughly re-frame what's taking place that most of the deeply ignorant kool-aide drinkers won't even realize what's happening (again) until it's far too late.

Seems like that's been Karl Roves MO from the beginning.

[DeepModem Mom]

40. I'll bet you're exactly right! Any guesses on what language they'll use?

Some Orwellian term or terms, no doubt.

[jokerman93]

43. I'm relieved to report

I'm relieved to report that my devious imagination doesn't extend very far into into the realms of psyops, political propaganda, or mob mind control.

How do you think they'll frame it???

[Robeson]

44. "How do you think they'll frame it???".....

Maybe something like giving them a "Freedom Choice" of which armed service they are going to serve in for their "Liberty Tour" of duty.

[DeepModem Mom]

47. You know, "Liberty Tour" may be a winner --

it sounds just like them.

[jokerman93]

58. It does!

Liberty Tour! Sounds like some kind of Bizarro World Disney ride. Just great for gettin' them Murkin's all harved up to get thar brains blown out for Freedom!

Liberty Tour! LOL OMG!

[MisterP]

64. someone excellently tied the Sense-burner bill to this:

service instead of prison for those not immediately calling Regional Snitch HQ when someone has dangerous pot or other hippie drugs (the DEA says that crack and smack aren't big concerns anymore to them)

[DeepModem Mom]

46. I'm no good either, but I asked the folks in GD, giving you credit --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3770312

[rocktivity]

51. First runner up for this month's "You call this NEWS?" award

It's only the second day of the month, and like an ice-skating judge, I have to give the other candidates room to score higher.

:headbang:
rocknation

[reformedrepub]

57. No Draft

There will never be a draft for Iraq. The American public this time wont fall for the BS of college deferments, and you just watch the country turn against this war when everyone's kids get drafted. I talked to a recruiter friend of mine, and ya know what he told me. He said that he had been to about sixty houses in the last thirty days that had Bush/Cheney stickers and yellow ribbons on cars, and support our troops yard signs, and he came away with 0 trips to MEPS to take the ASVAB and enlist. These people talk a good game, but when it comes to putting their kids asses on the line, they take a pass.

[cyberpj]

59. Who should go first -

[KansDem]

62. Written like true media whores....

After enabling George W. Bush to seize the White House by ignoring election fraud, then ignoring the lies leading up to the Iraq Invasion, now the f*cking Washington Post is writing about "such angst" in the prospect of a draft...

F*ck you , WhorePost! If you had done you're job, we wouldn't be in this mess...! :grr:

[alcibiades_mystery]

66. "I'm old enough to die for my country"

If I hear that from an eighteen year old male, I'll ask him whether he's old enough to get his penis and testicles blown off, and left blinded to boot. "Die for my country" sounds really abstract. Index their bloviation to a specific body part and watch the gears start turning.